The Los Angeles Kings are in Montreal tonight to face the Canadiens at the Bell Centre. This is the last home game of 2015 for the Canadiens and they will desperately want to leave town on a high note after a rough couple of weeks. The Kings are 7-1-2 in their last 10 games but will be looking to rebound after their loss to the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday. For their part the Canadiens are 4-5-1 in their last 10 games and have been settling into survivor mode as they battle through the loss of key of players to various injuries.
The Canadiens need to focus on burying their chances, something they have struggled with as of late. That task will get no easier tonight as the Kings have only allowed 65 goals this season, second best in the league. As we know, head coach Michel Therrien has been fond of saying that you need to score 3 goals to win a game. This is especially true for the Canadiens without Carey Price in net. For the most part, Dustin Tokarski and Mike Condon have played well enough, giving the club a chance to win on most nights. The Canadiens have not been blown out since November 14th when the lost to the Colorado Avalanche 6-1. They have been playing decently but inconsistently. That is not good enough to win games in today's NHL. On the positive side, the Canadiens still lead the league with a +28 goal differential. Perhaps a road trip after tonight's game will take some of the pressure off of the players.
Aside from Mike Condon getting the start in net, there are no changes in the Canadiens lineup tonight. Expect the forward lines and defensive pairings to look exactly like how they ended the San Jose game and remained during practice yesterday which means Charles Hudon will be a healthy scratch again:
Forwards:
Pacioretty-Plekanec-Byron Eller-Galchenyuk-Andrighetto Fleischmann-Desharnais-Weise Flynn-Mitchell-Carr
Defense:
Beaulieu-Subban Emelin-Petry Markov-Gilbert
It is really anyone's guess how long the Beaulieu-Subban pairing will last for. It could only be a period, a couple of games or more. It will be interesting to see how long Therrien's leash will be on these two and if they will be allowed to make the occasional mistake. Hopefully he will allow some time for them to further develop chemistry. From the San Jose game, it was evident that when these two were on the ice the Canadiens spent much of the time in the offensive zone. I'm curious to see if they will keep the duo together for the start of powerplays as well or if Therrien will revert back to Subban-Markov.
5 Questions For Tonight's Game:
1) Will the Canadiens score a powerplay goal tonight?
2) Do you think that the Beaulieu-Subban pairing will still be intact by the end of the game?
3) Which Canadiens forward line will step up tonight?
4) Will Condon be able to hold the fort against the LA Kings?
5) Will the Canadiens close out the 2015 calendar year at home with a win or loss?
Puck drops at 7:30pm.
Cheers and enjoy the game! Follow @Jenbcutler